Sideshow Blues
by Todd Snider
{intro/fill}
[ use hammered-on C from G ]
/ G C G CG /
My landlady treats me like I don't pay my rent
Gave my car to my mechanic, and I ain't seen it since
My phone is always ringing when I want to be alone
They try and sell me everything from Heaven to cologne
Everybody's got an offer I can't refuse
It's a circus out here mama, your baby's got the sideshow blues
/ G - / / / C - G - / D - C - G - - - /
It's all a big commercial; it's a video of a man
It's a plot to put an end to my attention span
They make up all these issues, I never understood
If I thought I could change things I'd run out to Hollywood
But it's hard to kick the door down wearing seven dollar shoes
It's a circus out here mama, your baby's got the sideshow blues
I've got them sideshow blues, I want to tame the lions
These center ring rich kids ain't even trying
From college to the big top, they take all the best positions
While I'm out in this tent with these freaks and musicians
I'm out here in this smoke-free bar with all y'all freaks and musicians
Moaning them sideshow blues
/ C - / G - / C - / D - / / D - G - - - /
I try to tell my girlfriend she's the only one that I've got
This chick I hardly knows keeps on telling her she's not
She got a loaded pistol, she waves it all the time
She says some times you gotta kill a boy to keep his ass in line
Well that's the way she sees it, she says she saw it on the news
It's a circus out here mama, your baby's got the sideshow blues
See people play satanic records, and you don't know when they'll freak
From quiet kid to maniac to movie of the week
We're killing over cocaine, dying over sex
We're bowing down and praying to who'll ever cuts the check
When I go to church on Sunday, I can't help sleep in the pews (that's what I do)
It's a circus out here mama, your baby's got the sideshow blues
It's a circus out here mama, your baby's got the sideshow blues
It's a circus out here mama, your baby's got the sideshow blues
It's a circus, people... step right up.